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CHAP. 4.—OMPHACIUM EXTRACTED FROM THE VINE: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.

We have already1 mentioned, when speaking of the composition of unguents, how omphacium is made from the grape,
when it is just beginning to form: we shall now proceed to
speak of its medicinal properties. Omphacium heals ulcerations
of the humid parts of the body, such as the mouth, tonsillary
glands, and generative organs, for example; it is very good,
too, for the sight, for rough spots upon the eyelids, ulcers at the
corners of the eyes, films upon the eyes, running sores on all
parts of the body, cicatrizations2 slow in forming, and purulent
discharges from the ears. The powerful action of omphacium
is modified by the admixture of honey or raisin wine. It is
very useful, too, for dysentery, spitting of blood, and quinsy.

2 Saracenus, upon Dioscorides, B. v. c. 6, thinks that Pliny, in copying
from the Greek, has made a mistake here, and that he has taken οὺλον,
the "gums," for οὐλὴ, a "cicatrix;" the corresponding passage in
Dioscorides being οὺλαπλαδαρὰ, "flaccidity," or "humidity of the
gums."

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